Patterns of Local Program Services Participation and Outcomes (WFE Austin)

In June 2009, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced funding for the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), under Title XII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Congress designated $1.5 billion for communities to provide financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless, or to help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized. The City of Austin received $3,062,820 to implement its HPRP effort; services began in December 2009 and concluded in December 2011. A total of 2,517 clients were served by three sub-grantees: Caritas of Austin; Austin Tenants’ Council; and Youth and Family Alliance. The City of Austin is funding an evaluation of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) to better understand its outcomes. Specifically, the City is interested in identifying any patterns in the use of other public services by program participants, as well as, to the extent possible, labor market outcomes. This information will help the City further refine its investments in Best Single Source Plus, a multi-million dollar initiative to help stabilize disadvantaged families in Austin, and other social service contracts. RMC researchers will work with the City of Austin to identify participants in HPRP, and to assess the quality of data kept on HPRP participants. RMC researchers will use existing data sharing agreements with state agencies to identify patterns in HPRP participants use of other public services, including TANF, SNAP, UI, job training, emergency utility assistance, etc. RMC researchers will use existing data sharing agreements with the Texas Workforce Commission to examine labor market outcomes for participants.

In addition, RMC researchers will conduct a process analysis of the HPRP program, through site visits, field interviews and document analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses in the HPRP program in terms of its stated mission.